Hooray for small victories of occupational validation. In what will almost certainly make her the butt of jokes from even more basic-cable pundits, Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton made a pronouncement that was decidedly bold, uncharacteristically hip, and some will no doubt argue, desperately kooky.

"We should even have a government blogging team where people in the agencies are constantly telling all of you, the taxpayers, the citizens of America, everything that's going on so that you have up-to-the-minute information about what your government is doing, so that you too can be informed, and hold the government accountable," Clinton said during a 45-minute speech addressing a rally full of supporters.

This is a marked change in a race that, while dominated on the campaigning end by the Web, has largely neglected technology in favor of vital but well-tread talking points on the war, health care, and the economy.

"Nobody should have to see the government waste billions and billions of dollars and see these no-bid contracts that nobody can explain or hold accountable," Clinton added, reinforcing the theme of governmental change that has been key in this year's Democratic campaigns. "I want to put everything on the Internet! I want you to see the budget of every agency. I want you to track everything that goes on in your government--you pay for it, you should know about it."

It's an interesting suggestion, especially in light of the infamous level of secrecy with which the government has conducted itself over the past several years. I'm guessing, though, that her response was, at least in part, an effort to catch people's ears with a buzz word like "blogger."

Still, that's not going to stop us from reminding Clinton of her suggestion, should she make it all the way the White House.

And Hillary (or anyone, really), if or when the time comes, we have a few recommendations for the newly created Blog Czar. Just saying...

Brian Heater has worked at a number of tech pubs, including Engadget, Laptop, and PCMag (where he served as Senior Editor). Most recently, he was as the Managing Editor of TechTimes.com. His writing has appeared in Spin, Wired, Playboy, Entertainment Weekly, The Onion, Boing Boing, Publishers Weekly, The Daily Beast and various other publications. He hosts the weekly Boing Boing interview podcast RiYL, has appeared as a regular NPR contributor and shares his Queens apartment with a rabbit named Lucy.
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